MINSCH, Hattie

MRS. J. MINSCH AND NIECE DROWNED A message was received in the city Monday, March 20th conveying the sad intelligence that Mrs. Jake Minsch and her niece, Miss Hattie Minsch had been accidentally drowned in the canal at Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday afternoon by the upsetting of an auto in which they were riding. Mrs. Minsch was, before her marriage, Miss Mary Shankey, and used to work for Mr. and Mrs. Scott Baker in this city and was well liked by all who knew her, and she and Mrs. Baker became as much attached as a mother and daughter. The young lady, Hattie, was the daughter of a brother of Jake Minsch, and since the death of her parents has made her home in this family. She was an exceptionally talented young lady held a very important position in the leading bank of Phoenix. Mrs. Baker and Andrew Minsch, brother of the bereft husband, left Monday morning for Phoenix. Mrs. Jacob Minsch and her niece, Miss Hattie Minsch, were drowned Sunday, March 19, in an irrigation canal about six miles from Phoenix, Arizona. They had gone with a car to visit a neighbor and on driving back the car evidently was diverted by a rut towards the canal and the driver probably lost control and it went off an embankment and turned upside down in several feet of water. Both women were found the next morning pinned under the car. Only circumstances that could be seen the next morning revealed the details of the tragedy, as no one witnessed it. Mrs. Jacob Minsch and family lived for many years south of Wheaton on the farm now occupied by T. J. Smith, and moved to Arizona about ten or twelve years ago. The niece was raised in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Minsch. Mrs. Minsch is survived by her husband and three children. The children are Miller, Orville and Evelyn. Miss Hattie leaves one brother, Edward, now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Andrew Minsch of near Onaga, a brother of Jacob, went to Phoenix to attend the funeral and render such aid as he is able. (Onaga Herald, Kansas, Monday, 20 March 1922) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ MRS. MINSCH AND NIECE PINNED UNDER AUTO IN CANAL Mrs. Mary Minsch, wife of Jacob Minsch, rancher, and Miss Hattie Minsch, 24, her niece, were drowned when Ford touring car, in which they returning from a visit to a neighbor, plunged over a 7-foot embankment into the Joint Head canal, southeast of Phoenix, shortly after 10 o'clock last night. Their bodies were recovered about 5 o'clock this morning, pinned in the front seat beneath the overturned machine, when their failure to return home caused an investigation. Wilbur, son of Mrs. Minsch, found the almost submerged car, and with help of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. McDonald, neighbors, whom Mrs. Minsch and her niece were visiting last night, released the bodies. Mrs. Minsch and her niece left the Minsch ranch, a mile east and half south of Acre City, at about nine o'clock last night in the automobile, bound for the McDonald home, a half mile away. They left the McDonald residence for home about 10:15 o'clock, driving along the road which parallels the canal bank. How It Happened Deputy Sheriff Al DeWitt who with Deputy Gilbert Blanco, was called to investigate the accident, stated that indications showed the right rear wheel had struck a chuck hole in the road, when the machine had gone about 200 yards from the McDonald home. Miss Minsch, who was driving, was unable to hold the machine in the road, and it swerved into the canal, turning over as it dropped. There was about four feet of water running in the canal, sufficient to almost cover the car, the top of which was smashed down by the plunge. The forehead of the girl bore a slight abrasion, which Deputy DeWitt believe was caused by her being thrown against the steering wheel when the car left the road. She may have lost consciousness form the effects of the blow and drowned in that condition, he thinks. All Prominent Mrs. Minsch would have celebrated her forty-sixth birthday today. She is survived by her husband, and four children, Wilbur, Orville, Evelyn and J.C. Lynch, all of Phoenix, a brother in Kansas and a sister in Colorado. Miss Minsch was an employee of the National bank of Arizona. She is survived by a brother Edward L. Minsch, of Albuquerque. She was an orphan and had been living with Mr. and Mrs. Minsch, her uncle and aunt, since she was a small girl. The bodies were removed to Merryman undertaking establishment. Funeral arrangements are awaiting word from the outside relatives, it was announced. Justice Henry J. Sullivan, after an investigation of the accident, announced that an inquest would not be necessary. (Phoenix, AZ newspaper, Monday, 20 March 1922)